Supernatural

Supernatural is back! And on this week’s episode, Sam and Dean had to stop being annoyed with each other for 20 seconds in order to help Castiel rescue an angel.

Seem simple? It kinda was — especially by Supernatural standards. In fact, I found this week’s episode to be much less about their mission and more about deeper personal plots. In Sam’s case, he had to choose between a life with Amelia and a life of hunting.

As we know, Dean has been in this position before, and this is hardly the first time a Winchester has done the hokey pokey with “normal life.” Both have tried and — so far — failed to succeed in having a regular life. In the past, Sam has always been better at moving on beyond hunting, but this week proved that it will always be hard for Sam to let Dean shoulder the responsibility alone.

Not that Sam wasn’t conflicted. In fact, when Amelia told him he had to choose, a small part of me wondered if he’d bargain with her. “Let me finish this and I’ll come back for good” — or something. But no. After Sam and Amelia agreed to meeting time and place (how very rom com of them), Sam failed to show and Amelia realized that it was over for good.

While I was happy to see the brothers mend things over grub and a boxing match, I felt a little bad for them both. If given the chance and the guarantee of a safe universe, I think they’d both take an out from The Life. The tricky part at present time is that abandoning their life as a hunter means abandoning each other. That they can’t do. Maybe one day they’ll find a way to stop being hunters but not stop being brothers. Actually, I hope that’s exactly what awaits them in the end. (Have I over thought this? Yeah, I definitely have…)

Getting back on track, Sam wasn’t the only person who gave up something this week. Dean also broke off his contact with Benny. (NOOO!!!!) It wasn’t entirely clear to me why he did so, but after rewatching the episode, I think it had to do with his conversation with Sam about commitment — you have to put two feet in every situation. Dean saw his contact with Benny has an example of toeing a very unsafe line. I gather Dean thought that blurring that line between vampire and friend could cloud his judgement. (If I’m missing the mark here, feel free to weigh in. This was my takeaway, though.)

I was sad that Dean abandoned Benny in his time of need. (Benny had called Dean asking for AA-type support.) But I don’t think this is the last we hear from him.

Meanwhile, like I said, the case was fairly simple. Castiel asked Dean for help in rescuing an angel named Samandriel, which is the angel equivalent of naming your kid Anfernee. And while Dean and Cas had full intention of handling the matter on their own, Castiel eventually had to fetch Sam for help.

Samandriel was being held by a demon named Viggo, who was shoving spikes into the angel’s brain in order to learn secrets. (It was as gross as it sounds.)

Castiel had been alerted to the situation by Naomi, who forced him to take the mission using her Jedi mind tricks. Also notable: We learned that her control over Cas might have something to do with a very unpleasant process involving a drill. We only saw glimpses of this during from flashbacks that Cas experienced, but I’m very eager to learn more about this. Did I say eager? I mean terrified.

Also terrifying? What we — and Crowley — learned from Samandriel: The Demon Tablet isn’t the only holy word out there — there is also an angel tablet. Meaning, much like our current tablet can eliminate demons from the world, there is one that can get rid of all the angels. WHAT?!

I love the new stakes set up this week, and I’m glad the boys’ spat is over. But I also have some burning questions: Do you think this is the last we’ll see of Amelia and Benny? Are you glad Dean and Sam are back together and recommitted to the mission? Would anyone else give their right eye for a spot on that couch between the boys? Do you, too, overthink the Winchesters’ future? Did you see the angel tablet twist coming? (I didn’t.) And do you think Cas has Angel Visine handy for that bleeding eye?